An intelligent examination of a rage-inducing period of American history, Kill The Messenger obediently ticks all the boxes of a flinty political thriller. It features a smart protagonist, plucky journalist Gary Webb (The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner), a mysterious tip-off from a femme fatale (Paz Vega) and a trail that ultimately leads back to the CIA.
A combination of biopic, political pot-boiler and cautionary tale, Kill The Messenger sees Webb discover that the CIA knowingly brought cocaine into the US to raise money for Reagan’s Contras in South America. To maximise profits, dealers turned the expensive cocaine into a cheaper, more street-friendly drug: crack. That this drug then made its way into impoverished urban areas with largely black communities is glossed over. It was either a deliberate weapon or a happy coincidence for a President on record as wanting more people of colour behind bars.
Renner makes for an engaging protagonist, whose exposé is published midway through the movie, leaving him to deal with the fall-out from both the government and his career rivals.
Torn apart in public and harassed, a story that should have been the making of Webb’s career instead triggers his personal and professional destruction. That Webb committed suicide in 2004 makes Renner’s beautifully nuanced descent from cocky, non-conformist family man into disgraced, hollowed-out shell all the more tragic.   
Director Michael Cuesta is best known for his work on television thrillers like Homeland and Dexter. Though he balances tight pacing and intimate shooting styles, the film suffers due to its rigid adherence to overused genre conventions. Ultimately, its failure to explore the political nuances of the story proves a fatal flaw.